Mascot named for 2012 Under-17 Women's World Cup

By Tom Degun

June 22 – The mascot for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan later this year has been officially named the “Top Top Girl” following a nationwide competition to decide what she would be called.

The mascot was unveiled during a 2012 European Championship qualifying match between Azerbaijan and Austria on October 7 last year but her name had remained a mystery.

Following the unveiling of the mascot, Azerbaijan 2012 launched an open competition to name her and have since been evaluating hundreds of innovative suggestions sent in by the public.

The chosen name and competition winner – Bahram Bagirzade (pictured, above and below, right), the popular Azerbaijani actor and film director – were announced during the 11th Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair in Baku.

Bagirzade was present during the unveiling ceremony to accept a small gift from the Top Top Girl for giving her an innovative name.

The word “top” means “ball” in Azerbaijani and, when children speak about “playing ball”, they refer to it as playing “top-top”.

The English meaning of the word indicates a peak, or a highest point of anything.

The significance of this relationship was part of the reason why the name was chosen.

“It is a privilege to be the author of the selected name and reached out to the crowd by asking them to support the FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup and the development of women’s football in Azerbaijan,” said Bagirzade.

The Top Top Girl was in a particularly good mood during the presentation as she danced to the music prior to the presentation and continued to kick a football around, take photos with fans and entertain the crowd with her moves.

She will now be one of the big stars at the competition, which will take place from September 22 and October 13 in Baku and Lankaran.

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